Five Kisses Before the Parting of the Ways
by SilverLunarStar
Summary: One-Shot! The Doctor could count on one, five-fingered hand how many times he kissed Rose Tyler.


**Five Kisses Before the Parting of the Ways**

_By: SilverLunarStar_

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><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> _Nope. No matter how hard I wish, I still don't own. Also, one of the last scenes historical factors comes from Wikipedia._

**Author's Note:** _This was written for a prompt someone wrote on LJ for the Doctor-Rose-Fix Holiday Fixathon. Took me a while to jot it down so yes, I know I'm super-late, but better late than never, right? :) I was in an angst mood when I started this two months ago…but also wanted fluff, so this is what came out of it. Also, apparently it's been seven years since 'Rose' first aired? Perfect! I uploaded a mostly 9/Rose music video of _Magic Man_ with a little 10/Rose thrown in on my chibitsukihoshi youtube account as well to celebrate. Enjoy!_

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><p>On the outside, it looked as if his mind had completely shut down. The Doctor wished this were so. While his senses had been temporarily muted, his brain had been firing as usual, now using the power it wasn't to fuel the scene he'd just witnessed, over and over again.<p>

"_Rose!" he shouted as soon as he opened the door. He quickly took in the Anne Droid and the similar qualities of _The Weakest Link_. He reinforced. "I order you to stop this game!"_

"_Stop this game!" Jack shouted._

"_You are the weakest link," the Anne Droid croaked out._

_Rose panicked. "Look out for the Anne Droid; it's armed!" She moved away from her position and ran towards them._

_Merely a few feet away from him, Rose was shot, her scream echoed through his head and all that remained of her was dust._

As he kneeled and dug into the dust that was once Rose Tyler, he vaguely heard Jack's angry shouts, just barely felt the guard arrest him, and didn't even notice the various corridors he was being shoved through. He tried to force his mind to think of other things, such as an escape plan. But what was the use anymore? Instead, it directed him to think about Rose some more.

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><p><em>Back in her regular clothes, all of them washed and pressed (looked like travelling and translating weren't the only things the ship did), Rose made her way to the console room. She held a book in her hand which she'd conveniently found with her clothes. Before she settled on the jump seat, she went around the console and laid down on the grating.<em>

_The Doctor soon poked his head out. Seeing the book Rose held in her hand, he smirked. "Looks like I wasn't the only time-travelling fan of Charlie's."_

"_How do you know this isn't my first time reading something of his?" she answered cheekily._

_He gestured at the book. "No newbie goes for his short stories the first time. They usually go for the obvious like_ A Christmas Carol_ or_ Oliver Twist_."_

"_Well, this is the book the TARDIS left under my clothes." She paused at his startled look, but shrugged it off when he didn't say anything. "But you're right; the first time I read Charles Dickens was with _A Christmas Carol_. The only required reading at school that I went through before reading everything of his I could. Thanks for this, by the way. I know it wasn't our original destination, but I wouldn't have missed it." With that, she plucked up her courage and pushed herself on her forearms, kissing him on the cheek._

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><p><em>The Doctor had tried to keep his temper in check when dropping off Adam Mitchell. Even when he twisted levers and pushed buttons, he was reining it in. He refused to lash out at Rose. He knew it wasn't her fault; she was just being Rose, her usual caring self. She saw a lost little boy and tried to comfort him. If he were being perfectly honest, the anger directed towards her was more hurt than anything else. He'd given her a key to his home and she'd handed it to a relative stranger. He looked at the weary pink and yellow girl who, for the first time since she 'signed up', looked like she didn't quite know what to do in his vast ship.<em>

"_Why don't you get some rest?" he suggested._

_Rose looked at him in disbelief, surprised that he was suggesting something he constantly complained humans did too much of. She frowned when he went right back to fiddling with the console even though they were already safely in the vortex. "I didn't meant-"_

"_It's fine." He surprised himself when he sounded like he actually meant it and, truly, he did mean it. "Get some rest; we can decide where to go next once you've had your beauty sleep. Anyway, it looks like you need it," he teased, flicking her hair once he approached her. He bent down and suddenly kissed her forehead._

"_Good night then." Without needing anymore persuasion, she went off to her room._

"_Relative," he called out, shaking his head as he heard her laugh. Making his way into the galley, he took out his favourite mug and stared at the lilac one right next to it. Abruptly, he realised she had had every right to loan the scared boy her key._

_After all, this was her home too._

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><p>"<em>Thank you."<em>

"_You said that already."_

"_I'm sorry."_

"_You said that too." Before she could say anything else, he cut her off. "We both said and did things we didn't mean and I-"_

"_Still, I feel like-"_

"_Not, it's the least I could do; you didn't know, I didn't explain like I should've."_

"_You still didn't have to yet you did." She tip-toed and gave him a peck on his prominent nose._

"_Go on now before I change my mind."_

"_Sure you won't come up?" Her tongue slipped between her teeth as she saw him place a hand on his cheek._

"_No thanks, I'll just be in here, making sure she's in tip-top shape for whenever you're ready." He patted the blue panel before frowning. "Never saying 'tip-top' again."_

_This time she laughed outright. "See you later then!" She skipped off, waving to him, as he'd poked his head out, before entering the building, readying herself for her mother's endless chatter. What she hadn't expected was being stopped by a not-so-friendly neighbor on her way back to the TARDIS. She'd been in such a good mood (her mother had only offended the Doctor once and hadn't asked her to stay this time). Rose knew there were plenty of rumors about her flying about the Estate and frankly she cared not an inch about them, but to be told some of the harsher ones directly to her face stung._

_Upon reentering, the Doctor noticed his little human was much more subdued than usual. Before he could ask her anything, he heard her mumble something about trying on a new shirt her mother bought her and, as soon as she came back to the console room, there was suddenly a mauve alert._

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><p><em>The Doctor always loved a good party and this was one of the best he'd been to in quite some time. So why was he acting like such a wallflower? He watched as Rose glided smoothly on the dance floor with Jack. It's funny just how quickly time can change and he should know better. Just a few weeks ago, he was ready to chuck the self-proclaimed captain out of an airlock (if the TARDIS actually had any) nor would have trusted the man to be six feet, never mind two inches, near Rose. The lad had more than proved his worth, however. Even though it irked him to see his two companions flirting, he was confident that nothing would ever come of it.<em>

_Before he knew it, he'd lost track of them. His eyes scanned the whole room and it took him over two minutes to locate Rose, but where was-?_

"_Doesn't look like she's having much fun," a voice besides him said._

"_Didn't seem like it when she was with you, but I see you found your own kind of fun." He nodded at a humanoid female with lilac skin and long black fur which grew from her scalp to her back._

"_She could use a friend," was all Jack said before leading his partner away._

_Glancing back, he found Rose a bit quicker and saw what their friend meant. She looked utterly bored. Well, that just wouldn't do. He walked towards Rose briskly. "May I cut in?"_

_Rose cut off her dance partner before he could say anything. "You may." She curtsied prettily and it almost threw him off until he saw her mischievous tongue._

_Not one to back down, he took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers; he hid his smirk as he saw her startle and it took everything in him not to beam proudly as she regained her equilibrium. He did smile when she settled a hand on his shoulder, one of his automatically placing itself on her waist, their only remaining ones entwining as leather-clad Time Lord danced with his human girl._

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><p><em>They'd landed in the beginning of the Muromachi period when General Takauji Ashikaga had just been rejected by Emperor Go-Daigo. Takauji had come back to overtake Kyoto and right now his army was lying in wait. Takauji was a merciful and tolerant man and so, when Go-Daigo's samurai Masashige Kusunoki had proposed a treaty, he'd been willing to listen. The emperor, however, had not.<em>

_The Doctor knew how this played out. Takauji was very kind, but he had a cool demeanor in battle and was said to not be afraid of death. A man like that was dangerous and Masashige's army would be crushed._

"_Any ideas, Doc?"_

_The alien glared at his companion. It was his fault they were here in the first place. If he'd just let him do all the talking, Rose wouldn't have been taken from them to keep the general company. Sneaking into the militia's supplies would be easy, but what he had planned was also dangerous._

_Knocking out two guards, they grabbed a few condensed packets of gunpowder and placed them as close to the camp as possible while making sure they wouldn't fatally injure anyone. In sync, the Doctor and Jack lit them._

_As the explosives went off, the Doctor and Jack were ready to rush towards the general's tent when suddenly a blonde's dashing towards them, barreling straight into the Time Lord. His hands automatically went around her waist, fighting to keep them steady._

"_Couldn't wait for us to come bet you, could you?"_

"_What took you so long?"_

_The three laughed and, without thinking about it, Rose lunged up to plant a kiss right on his lips. The two abruptly stilled._

_Shouts were heard before either one could move, say, or do anything else. Turning around, they saw a group of warriors stampeding towards them. It was Takauji come to reclaim 'his' woman._

_The friends looked at each other and grinned. "Run!" Jack took the Doctor's hand as his other cool hand went for Rose's. Together, they ran towards the TARDIS. Rose let go of the Doctor's hand, both fighting to ignore the emptiness, so she could unlock the door to their home. She opened it right on time. Dashing in, they laughed in relief and joy as they'd escaped safely from another grand adventure. Just seconds after that-_

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><p>Suddenly the Doctor found himself in a cell with Jack and Lynda-with-a-y, one of the guards frisking him beforehand, asking him something. Lynda, sweet Lynda, tried to defend him. The guard kept asking questions. They took his mug, his head automatically turning this way and that – obviously he'd been arrested one too many times. His thoughts continued to spiral down as he thought of all the times he'd been arrested with Rose. Once they were back in the cell, the guard was saying something, but he paid him no mind. Suddenly, he remembered a time similar to this when he, Rose, and Jack had been arrested.<p>

He and Jack had been taken into a different cell from Rose and he hadn't liked how one of the guards was looking at her one little bit. The two men had quickly come up with a plan to get out and rescue her. The Doctor never approved of violence, but the lines became quite sketchy when it involved the blonde. (Now, even though there was no more Rose Tyler to save, he still had a whole planet to liberate from whoever was running this place. Rose wouldn't want him to give up the Earth for her, no matter how tempted he'd been at times. That wasn't his way though; she knew that, she understood it, and she didn't condemn him for it.

Just as the man was exiting, the Doctor and Jack turned to one another, the Doctor saying, "Let's do it," and Jack immediate understood.

The guard turned to them, but Jack was quick. He punched the guard, pushed the door to hit the other guard, and grabbed hold of the door's upper frame in order to swing forward to kick him down. Another two guards came running in and Jack shoved one away, while the Doctor took care of the other, slamming him against some pipes. The Doctor immediately ran out while Lynda grabbed their things and Jack took the gun he'd built along with two others. They caught up to him and the Doctor grabbed the gun, ignoring Jack's surprised glance as they made their way into the elevator.

Once the door opened, the Doctor instructed them to aim for floor five hundred. Like an expert, the Time Lord readied the gun as they made their way up. As soon as they arrived at their destination, they immediately got out, Jack making sure to clear things up for whatever the Doctor had in mind.

"Okay, move away from the desk. Nobody try anything clever; everybody clear. Stand to the side and stay there."

Everyone listened as they approached a woman who was wired into all these machines.

"Who's in charge of this place?" the Doctor demanded, aiming the gun right at her. "This satellite's more than a game station. Who killed Rose Tyler?" His accent thickened as he spoke over the woman who seemed to be counting, making staff announcements. "I want an answer!"

"She can't reply." One of the staff members interrupted.

The Doctor aimed the gun at him.

"Don't shoot."

"Oh, don't be so thick, like I was ever going to shoot." He wouldn't. He couldn't. He'd merely taken the gun for show. He had no plans of killing anyone; one too many people already had. However, his soldier mind was abuzz. "Captain," he directed to Jack, "we've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits."

"Yes sir," he replied, going to do as he was told.

"You," he turned back to the staff member. "What were you saying?"

"But, I've got your gun."

"Okay, so shoot me." He wouldn't be able to save the Earth then, but at least he'd be free. Maybe this time he could control and stop himself from regenerating. "Why can't she answer?" He got annoyed as the man stalled, putting the gun down. "Shoot me or tell me what's going on!" he wanted to shout, but he controlled himself. He felt disgusted as he found out she'd been 'installed' since she was only five years old. Rose would have been outraged and horrified at what her race had become. There were so many beautiful places he'd taken her, so much beauty he'd shown her. They all came with a price, though. She'd also seen many horrors the universe had to offer, faced death in the face one too many times, and now she was gone.

"Door's sealed, we should be safe for about ten minutes," Jack informed him from across the room.

"Keep an eye on it!" he ordered.

When the man told him he was right, he didn't even react as he would have had Rose been there. What was the use of being right if she was gone, if there was no one around to show off to, to see her reaction when she heard that he was being clever again? He was always clever, very clever, but sometimes it was tiring, especially when he was right about the most horrifying things. He told the man to show him the records. While waiting to look through them, one of the women asked him to let them go because they were terrified. "That's the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day."

"That's not our fault; we're just doing our jobs."

He was aghast. "And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me now back off!" The fact that they could do this and still live with themselves made him sick to his stomach. What he'd done, he'd done for the universe. Or so he told himself dozens of times per day. What they did was slaughter, pure and simple. What was worse was that there was no point to it. They weren't prisoners who'd broken the law; they were people who were chosen at random by a machine, taken out of their lives to participate in these sick games for other people's sick sense of entertainment. What was the point? Actually, that was a good question. A question Rose would have asked had she been there with him. So, what _**was**_ the point?

Suddenly, the screen showed nothing but static. The man nervously explained about the solar flares and how it was all quite 'normal,' when suddenly someone called his name.

"Doctor?" the woman nearby solicited.

"Whatever it is, it can wait."

"I think she wants you."

He turned around and saw it was the woman hooked up to the machinery he was calling for him; he quickly strides to her. He asked her what she wanted as she continued to speak quickly, something about seeing him, about her masters controlling her thoughts, being careful so she could bring him here, and that ticked him off. It was because of her she was gone.

"My friend died inside your game."

"She doesn't matter."

"Don't you dare tell me that!" Rose mattered. She mattered more than the entire stupid species on the planet below. She was worth every single one of them. Rose was made of everything that made him love the silly humans; she had the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. She was compassionate. She was selfish. She was always willing to learn. She was a frightening morning person. He continued to listen, wanting to know who she was talking about. Who had such power to shape the whole of humanity? Why did they fear him? "Tell me, who are they?" he demanded. Before she could even try to respond, she suddenly gasped and stiffened, starting to whisper numbers again. He turned to the man who'd been cooperating thus far. "When's the next solar flare?"

"In two year's time."

"Fat lot of good that is." He turned back to the woman.

"Found the TARDIS!" Jack announced as he came into the room.

"We're not leaving now." There were too many unanswered questions, too many unknown variables. Who was in charge? Why were they killing so many people? What did they want? How did they set all of this up? Hundreds and hundreds of years, she had said. That means they were around when he'd last come with Rose a hundred years ago. Had they set up the Jagrafess? What else had they done to affect Earth's history? Why hadn't he sensed it?

"No, but the TARDIS worked it out."

What was Jack talking about? Worked what out? Who the 'masters' were?

"You'll wanna watch this."

He turned to the self-proclaimed captain as he asked Lynda to stand in a specific spot.

"Everybody watching? Okay. Three, two, one." He pushed a button and a beam shot down at her, turning her into nothing but dust, same as Rose.

Had Jack gone insane? He turned to him, suddenly afraid he'd been wrong about the man all along. The 51st century man didn't even seem to have an ounce of regret written on his face. "But you killed her." How could he? Didn't he get that there had been enough deaths?

"Oh, do you think?" Jack replied cockily, masking the joy he felt when he'd realised just what those beams were. He pushed another button.

The Doctor turned his head, moving aside as the beam hovered near him and suddenly Lynda was right by him, looking dazed. He looked at her, then turned to Jack.

"It's a transmat beam, not a disintegrator." But that meant… It couldn't be, could it? "A secondary transmat system." It was! His mind suddenly comprehended and his eyes lit up with life again, his facial expression changing completely. "People don't get killed in the game," he heard Jack continue to explain as the man got closer to him. "They get transported across space." He started to grin, "Doctor, Rose is still alive!" and shouted from joy as soon as that last word escaped his mouth. The two men hugged ecstatically, the two basking at the news of their wonderful girl still being alive.

She was alive, she was alive, she was alive, his brain continued to chant and he felt his whole being come alive again. He didn't know where she was, but he'd find her. He didn't know how yet, but he would. Nothing would stop him. He'd find Rose Tyler, he'd rescue her, and, once she was back with him, he was going to kiss her until she ran out of breath. And once she had enough oxygen in her lungs again, he was going to kiss her again and again until she got sick of him. Then, he might just do it some more, just so she could be sure she really was tired of him.

Knowing she was alive and seeing it for himself were two totally different things. Unfortunately, what he hadn't counted on were the Daleks. His whole planet gone, his people, and yet still they remained, thousands of them.

Looked like those plans of not killing were now void. But first, he had a blonde to save.

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><p><em>Hmm, I hadn't meant to write out the final third of <em>Bad Wolf_, but the Muse didn't want to leave Nine's head._

_Happy 7 years to the 'Rose' epi. *Cuddles it* XD_

_~*Eli_


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